Scottish wingsuit flyer dies throughout Swiss Alps bounce

A Scottish wingsuit flyer has died throughout a bounce within the Swiss Alps.

British champion Liam Byrne, 24, was critically injured on the Gitschen mountain on Saturday after taking off from 7,874ft (2,400m).

Mr Byrne, from Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, featured in a 2024 BBC documentary referred to as The Boy Who Can Fly.

He was described as a really skilled wingsuit flyer – which is a sort of skydiving which entails carrying a particular swimsuit with webbing to permit mid-air elevate – and had accomplished greater than 4,000 jumps throughout his 10 profession.

The wingsuit flyer had informed the documentary: “I feel I used to be about 13 once I stated to my dad that I needed to study to fly like a chook.”

He defined: “Even at college I might stare out the window on the seagulls flying and all the time feeling that sense of envy that they’ve that freedom to only take off and fly away.

“I do marvel why I really like flying a lot? Possibly my mind is wired otherwise to different individuals’s, perhaps I cope with concern otherwise.

“However I do know myself nicely sufficient to know that an workplace job scares me way over the concern of dying from a base bounce or wingsuit flight.”

My Byrne stated irrespective of how protected he tried to make the game, he did take into consideration how a lot it nervous his household.

He informed the documentary makers that preparation was key to being protected.

“I’ve spent the final decade coaching to extend the talents and reduce any danger.

“For me I am about so far as a reckless adrenaline junkie as you possibly can presumably get. Preparation is all the time been on the coronary heart of all my challenges. The extra I put together, the extra management I’ve.”

Mr Byrne took to excessive sports activities from a younger age. At 12 he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, a peak in Tanzania, African, standing at 5,895 meters (19,341ft) excessive.

That journey led to dog-sledging by way of the Arctic, scuba diving and a number of massive summit climbs.

At 16 he took his first sky dive and by 18 he was pulling on a wingsuit which he described as a “second pores and skin, letting me transfer by way of the air in a managed means”.

Mr Byrne’s dad and mom, Mike and Gillian, confirmed to BBC Scotland Information that their son had died.

A household assertion stated: “We want to bear in mind Liam not only for the best way he left this world, however for the way he lived in it.

“Liam was fearless, not essentially as a result of he wasn’t afraid however as a result of he refused to let concern maintain him again. He chased life in a means that the majority of us solely dream of and he soared.

“Skydiving and base leaping was greater than only a thrill for Liam – it was freedom. It was the place he felt most alive.”

The assertion added: “Liam was extra than simply an adventurer. He was a son, brother, grandson, cousin and pal. He was a supply of laughter and energy.

“He impressed all of us and made life higher along with his daring spirit and type coronary heart. We’ll miss Liam’s wild vitality and contagious snigger.

“Although he has now flown past our attain, he’ll all the time be with us.”

The BBC documentary featured Mr Byrne’s dad, Mike, a builder and former Commando within the British Military.

In on emotional scene, he watches his son take off on a coaching bounce and says “I’ve buried him 10 instances already in my head”.

However Mr Byrne Snr goes on to say he knew the enjoyment wingsuit leaping gave Liam.

“He was a tremendous child rising up – something I advised he could be up for. I used to be massively impressed by him. I want I could possibly be extra like him.”

The Overseas, Commonwealth and Improvement Workplace (FCDO) confirmed it was supporting the household of a British man who died in Switzerland.